WILBUR A. COWETT

COWETT--Wilbur Arnold, of New York, NY passed away on Wednesday, May 15, 2013. Born in Springfield, MA in 1924, Mr. Cowett was a prominent investment banker, a man of great generosity, integrity and intellect with a prodigious appetite for life. After serving in the OSS in World War II and graduating from Harvard College in 1947 and Harvard Business School in 1949, he joined Wertheim & Co where he specialized in corporate finance and ultimately became Vice-Chairman, before leaving in 1980 to form his own investment and consulting firm. His work was noteworthy for financial transactions of great complexity of a kind that were at the time many years in advance of the state of the art of the investment banking industry. He was a generous donor to numerous institutions, including Harvard University and UJA-Federation, and spent summers at a home in Tupper Lake, NY where he made many contributions to the community. He is survived by his wife Margaret Cowett, daughter Anne Cowett, son Frederick Cowett, daughter-in-law Diana Riesman, and grandchildren Theodore and Nora Cowett. He is also survived by his first wife Joan Leiman Jacobson, the mother of his children, brother- and sister-in-law Leonard and Joan Leiman, nieces Elizabeth Kraiem and Victoria Bender, and nephews Alan Leiman and Alexei Cowett. A funeral service will be held at 12 noon, Sunday, May 19, at Riverside Memorial Chapel, 180 West 76th Street, New York, NY. The family will be at the home of Leonard and Joan Leiman, 1125 Park Avenue, from 5:30 to 7:30 on May 19. In lieu of flowers, a contribution in Mr. Cowett's memory may be made to the Harvard College Fund.